Opposition readies for renaissance in Haryana

In a State where the ruling Congress remains the focal point of attack, Narendra Modi’s invocation unites the Opposition — even those who are officially not aligned with the BJP. So, at all the rallies he addresses in Haryana, Modi not just attacks the Congress but actively encourages people not to vote for the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), a former partner in the National Democratic Alliance. He tells voters the INLD is a ‘vote-cutting’ party and voting for it may help the Congress. The BJP is allied with the Haryana Janhit Congress, led by Kuldeep Singh Bishnoi.

On the other hand, the INLD swears there is no Modi wave in Haryana, but promises to the voters that it will ‘unconditionally’ support Modi after the elections. “There is no Modi wave in Haryana because the BJP has no base in the State. They have neither cadres nor leaders in the State.

“The only wave in Haryana is INLD wave,” the latest entrant into the dynasty politics of the State, Dushyant Chautala, tells Business Line .

Chautala, his party’s candidate from the Hisar seat, is the grandson of Om Prakash Chautala, the party’s mukhiya . Dushyant’s father Ajay Chautala and grandfather are in jail in connection with the ‘recruitment scam’ in appointing 3,206 junior basic teachers in the State.

Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal tried to bring INLD back to the NDA fold. Abhay Chautala, the younger son of Om Prakash Chautala, led the discussions. The attempts, however, failed after resistance from BJP leader Sushma Swaraj.

The INLD is trying to make maximum gains, where the Opposition is seeing some light after 10 years in Haryana due to the anti incumbency against the Congress regimes in both the Centre and the State. The State is witnessing a three-cornered fight, putting the Congress in defence.

The INLD, as the principal Opposition party, sees itself on a revival path. The party that had swept the State after aligning with the BJP in 1999, failed to win a single seat in 2004 and 2009. In 1999 both the parties had won five seats each of the total 10 seats.

However, it is a fact that the main opposition parties are fighting to get the maximum gains of the BJP’s projection of Modi as the single leader against the Congress. “Modi hawa to upar tha. Zameen me to nahi he (the Modi wave is not there on the ground),” says Ram Swaroop, an octogenarian farmer in Mahem. Swaroop has a number of complaints against the Congress and he believes the INLD is coming back to power. He does not mind if the INLD supports Modi at the Centre.

Its failure to avoid controversies in candidate selection may hamper the BJP’s chances in the elections. “Five of their candidates are turncoats. How will I vote for a Congressman who as a minister did nothing in the last nine years and now is asking us for votes as a BJP man?” asks Sandeep, a youngster in Mundri village. Corruption is the main plank of the Opposition too, despite its key leaders being in jail.

The BJP, however, feels the Modi wave will drown all the difficulties that cropped up after controversies over ticket distribution.

“Those are things of the past. The campaign has now picked up and the people are voting for Modi,” Bishnoi says. The Congress is not surprised at the Opposition’s revival. “Both the Opposition parties have a single leader, that is Modi. This shows the desperation of INLD to get votes. BJP and HJC are nowhere in the picture,” says PCC President Ashok Tanwar.

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